Trough zither

Description

wood, slightly encrusted dark brown patina, remains of pigments, trough-shaped corpus, drilled holes for fixing the strings, crowned by a human head rising from a long neck, metal stick with small platelets in the parting, min. dam., strings missing, small missing parts, slight traces of usage, base;
the strings across the soundbox are not individual but consist of a single long thin woven twisted fibre thread that is wound around the whole soundbox and spans its length, resting in notches at either end. This instrument and its music was, and still is, intended for a limited audience which in the past would have consisted of the king (“mwami”) and his entourage of dignitaries and women.